January 19, 2010
William Roger Louis Named to John W. Kluge Center Chair for Countries and Cultures of the North

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed William Roger Louis, a distinguished historian from the University of Texas at Austin, to the John W. Kluge Center Chair for Countries and Cultures of the North.

While at the Kluge Center, from January through May, Louis will complete his book "The British Empire in the Middle East, 1952-1971," which is a sequel to his previous work "The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951."

Louis is the Kerr Professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas (UT). He is also editor-in-chief of The Oxford History of the British Empire and director of the American Historical Association's (AHA) National History Center.

In early 2009, Louis was named UT Professor of the year, an award given in recognition of unwavering dedication and service to students.

The author and editor of approximately 30 books, Louis is best known for his work on the British Empire, focusing mostly on official British policy and decolonization in Asia, Africa and the Middle East in the period after the Second World War.

Louis became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1993, and in 1999 the Queen made Louis a Commander of the British Empire for professional achievement. He is also the former chairman of the U.S. State Department's Historical Advisory Committee and former president of AHA.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.